Council Visit To Dounreay

Sixteen members and officials of the Highland Council paid a visit to Dounreay on Friday, April 28, to see for themselves the dramatic changes taking place at Dounreay.

For some of the group, it was the first time they had visited the site since its operational days in the 1990s, and the change to decommissioning, with major demolition and construction works now taking place across the site, was apparent.

Senior project manager and geologist Warren Jones took the group on a guided tour of the works now taking place around the waste shaft in preparation for the first phase of its decommissioning.

This is now one of the busiest areas of the site, with major work underway to build a raise working platform all around the shaft before the first boreholes are drilled later this year to enable the rock around the shaft to be sealed with grout. This follows the recent granting of planning permission by the Highland Council.

The group also visited the WRACS facility, where low-level waste generated during the clean-out and dismantling of facilities on the site is sent for checking, assay and supercompaction to get it ready for eventual disposal. Plans for the disposal of the waste are expected to be the subject of a planning application shortly.

Site director Norman Harrison, who welcomed the group to Dounreay, outlined the the socio-economic challenges and the impact on employment projections of speeding up or slowing down the programme.

The visit came about after a presentation on Dounreay by Dr Peter Kayes, the council's technical advisor, to members of the council late last year.